Movie Review: Liberal Arts

One recent night I found myself caught in a movie trailer vortex on YouTube, a very dangerous place for myself to be. After watching the trailer for the 2012 film Liberal Arts, starring Josh Radnor and Elizabeth Olsen, I figured I would check Netflix to see if it was available there, and seeing that it was I opted to give it a watch.

This quirky comedy drama opens with Jesse, a college admissions officer living in New York City, traveling back to his liberal arts college in Ohio to attend his old professor's retirement ceremony. There he meets Zibby, a student attending the college, and they quickly form a strong friendship. Once he returns to New York, Jesse stays in contact with Zibby through exchanging letters with her. Zibby asks him to return to Ohio so she can see him, but upon arriving is apprehensive about continuing a relationship with Zibby who is 16 years younger than him. The two must help each other figure out the complexities surrounding their wide age gap and the feelings that they have for each other.

To put it simply, this movie was certainly odd. From "the hat guy" (you'll know exactly what I'm talking about if you watch Liberal Arts) to the awkward chemistry between Jesse and Zibby, I found this film to be somewhat uncomfortable to watch. Sure, there were some elements that did work and buried among all the awkwardness were several truly funny moments. But overall, I was pretty disappointed with Liberal Arts.

To begin, I thought the movie was slow to evolve and get to its point. The plot itself is pretty sparse; a guy travels to his college town and falls for a girl much younger than he is. That's pretty much it. I feel that to compensate, Liberal Arts just throws a bunch of unrelated stuff into the mix that just doesn't seem to mesh with the main storyline. This movie also bounced around between comedy and drama, never quite establishing what it is suppose to be. A last negative point I want to make about Liberal Arts is just how disjointed the characters all seem from each other. While I was watching the film none of the people in it seemed to really connect to the other actors. It's hard to explain, but the best way I can describe it is that the actors didn't seem authentic. There was an emptiness behind their words and actions in this movie.

As I said above, there are a few positive elements. Not only are there several comedic scenes that were pulled off pretty well, there were also some heartwarming moments. Ultimately, for me Liberal Arts was like a blank, dull canvas with a very unsubstantial plot punctuated by brief yet vivid moments that were done well. I certainly didn't love this movie, and found myself to be bored and sometimes a bit bemused by parts in it, but I also didn't hate it. Overall, Liberal Arts is not a movie that I would go out of my way to advocate watching, but if you are so inclined you may find it to be more enjoyable than I did.

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Run Time: 97 minutes

Release Date: September 14, 2012

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Book Review: Vanishing Girls

I've been reading a lot of books lately, and I'll be honest: I've hit kind of a slump in the sense that most of my recent reads have been pretty mediocre. That is, until I read Vanishing Girls. It was just the edge-of-your-seat exciting thriller that I was hoping for. It managed to pull me out of my recent reading rut and made me hopeful of what the other books that I have yet to read might have in store.
Vanishing Girls is narrated from the perspective of two sisters, Dara and Nick. Although once very close, a car accident that left Dara injured has rendered their relationship tempestuous, with Dara and Nick avoiding each other as much as possible. Meanwhile Madeline Snow, a young girl, has gone missing in their hometown. Nick's suspicions surrounding a possible connection between Madeline's disappearance and her sister are aroused when Dara goes missing as well. Nick then sets out to discover the truth to the secrets surrounding the disappearance of both Madeline and her sister.
To begin my review, I just want to quickly say that the one minor issue I had with this book was the changing point of views that were used to narrate the story. I found myself having to flip back to previous pages to figure out who was who, and to a degree it rendered Vanishing Girls to be a bit confusing. However, I can appreciate what Oliver was attempting to do by writing the story from different viewpoints, and I think it was a creative direction to take the book in. However, it might take a second read-through to really grasp and make sense of the story line of Vanishing Girls because of the numerous point of view changes.
Getting into the elements that really made me like this book, I'll begin by saying that it does a great job of mixing genres. There are strong elements of teenage angst, sibling and familial relationships, romance, mystery, psychological thriller, and it's surprisingly not too much. All of these genres are bundled together really well within the pages of Vanishing Girls. I particularly enjoy when a book can pull this off, as I often get bored with books that are clearly just focusing on mystery, or just on romance, for example. A second positive thing going for this book is its deftness at capturing characters with a lot of layers; that is, complex and occasionally conflicting personalities that are not one-note. The two sisters, Dara and Nick, are especially skillfully created by the author and their shifting emotions make them seem more real to the reader. This also creates a very complex yet strong bond between the two sisters, which is clearly evident. Lastly, I want to make note of this book's surprise ending. I obviously will not say anything specific as I don't want to spoil Vanishing Girls for any potential readers out there, but I'll just say that I was caught by surprise and it made the book even that much more layered and complex. In retrospect the book makes a lot more sense knowing how it ends, but until the twist was revealed I did not see it coming at all.
To conclude my review, I feel that Vanishing Girls is an exemplary psychological thriller. It not only has all of the required elements of one, but goes beyond this by having complex and interesting characters and a twist ending that I, at least, was not expecting at all. I would strongly recommend this book, especially if you are a lover of mysteries and thrillers like myself.
Author: Lauren Oliver
Genre: Psychological thriller/mystery/YA

Pages: 357

Year Published: 2015

My Rating: ★★★★☆

Molly's Music: Entry 2

It's been a while since I've written a music-related post here on my blog, so I thought that it would be an opportune time to share some of the songs that I've been listening to lately. Enjoy my list, and feel free to share some of your own current favorites in the comment section, I'd love to give them a listen!

Stateless - Bloodstream:
This slow, melodic song by the alternative rock band Stateless was introduced to me via Kawehi's cover on YouTube. It's a great song to listen to right before you fall asleep; it kind of puts you in a trance.


CHVRCHES - Playing Dead:
I've been a fan of CHVRCHES' music for a while, and liked this song from the first time I heard it play on my Pandora station. It's not one of the band's more well-known songs, but it should be!


Sofi de la Torre - Give Up At 2:
I just discovered this song a few days ago, again via my Pandora station. It's a slower song, very reminiscent of contemporary R&B singer Banks. If you're looking to add a unique-sounding musician to your musical repertoire, it's worth a listen.


Flesh Without Blood - Grimes:
I discovered the musician Grimes through her song Realiti, and although this newest song of hers doesn't quite add up (in my opinion) it's still pretty catchy.

Book Review: Dead To You

I know, yet another book review. What can I say, I've been quite the bookworm lately. My most recent read has been Lisa McMann's young adult thriller Dead To You. Overall I felt that this book had a mix of both good and bad elements, and I wanted to share my thoughts with anyone thinking about giving this book a read.
To give a quick overview of the plot of Dead To You, it begins with sixteen year old Ethan arriving at a train station. Having been abducted and missing since the age of seven, he is meeting his family for the first time in nine years. At first things go relatively well with his new family, and everyone is begining to adjust to his reappearance in their lives. But when something comes to light, something that Ethan can't deny because of his poor memory of his past, the truth of the events surrounding Ethan's identity are exposed for what they really are.
Overall this book was enjoyable to read and kept me interested from start to finish. Having read another one of McMann's books before, Cryer's Cross, I have found that she is really adept at writing page turners. The chapters were short and always ended with me wanting to know more, so I would just keep reading and reading. I also liked the characters in this book; they were all dynamic and interesting in their own ways. I didn't find myself singling out any one character as the "bad guy" or the "good guy," not even Ethan's vexed younger brother Blake who treats him terribly. I simply saw him as a teenager trying to deal with a big adjustment in his family.
There are a few cons with Dead You You as well. Namely I want to point out that it took a long time for the plot twist to become apparent to the reader. This book is still a good read before its storyline takes an unexpected turn, but I wish that this twist had come a bit sooner in the book. Because of this, I don't really see this book as much of a thriller, but more of an account of Blake's personal story. The other somewhat negative aspect of Dead To You [minor spoiler: is that it has a cliffhanger ending. If you typically don't like loose ends left in the final pages of a book, do not read Dead To You. It leaves a lot left to the imagination of the reader as to what happens next.]
So ultimately I walked away from Dead To You pleased with what I read. This book definitely occupied much of my time over the past several days, and it's a fast read that will suck you in and spit you out only until you finish reading. However, there were enough negative elements that would keep me from recommending this book to everyone. If you enjoy young adult books that have elements of psychological thriller, suspense, and even a bit of romance, then this book is probably for you. Otherwise, I'd advise you to pass on this read.
Author: Lisa McMann
Genre: Psychological thriller/YA

Pages: 243

Year Published: 2012

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Book Review: The Girl On The Train

The Girl on the Train is a book that I've been meaning to read for a while now, as I have seen it listed on several book lists floating around on the internet. Basically, it seemed that a lot of hype was surrounding this book and I wanted to see if it lived up to what people were saying about it. Overall, I can say that this was a very thrilling book to read, and it managed to hold my interest and keep me on the edge of my seat through the entirety of the plot.
First, I'll give a brief summary of The Girl on the Train. The book begins by introducing you to the character of Rachel, a divorced and jobless woman with a drinking problem. She spends much of her time riding the commuter train between her home and London, and every day she looks out the window at the same couple who are always outside on their deck. She paints them as the "perfect couple" in her head, and even nicknames then Jason and Jess. But one day Rachel sees something shocking happening on the deck, and suddenly finds herself caught up in a massive mystery that reveals the truth behind this flawless duo and everyone involved in their life.
I will admit that when I first picked this book up to read it, I was fairly skeptical as to how good it was going to be. However, it turns out that The Girl on the Train has a lot going for it. First of all, Hawkins does a fantastic job creating a plot that very quickly engrossed me. It only took a few pages of reading before I found myself very interested in what was happening. To put it simply, this book is a real page-turner, and I found myself thinking about what might happen later on in the book when I wasn't reading it. The Girl on the Train is also written very well; I like how the commentary switches between characters (Rachel, Megan, and Anna), and the author is very deft at descriptive writing. She gets in the heads of her characters, and creates a cinematic setting where the plot unfolds.
Overall I thought that The Girl on the Train was a very entertaining and thrilling work of fiction. However, there were some things that fell short for me. The first is that every single character in this book I just wanted to slap, to be blunt. Every main character is equally unlikable, and I found myself shaking my head at their ridiculous antics throughout the book. The other negative note that I want to mention is that the last quarter of The Girl on the Train lost me a bit. The majority of the book, especially towards the begining, was masterful at pulling me into the plot and I found myself constantly wanting to know what happens next. However, towards the end when the storyline starts to become clear to the reader, it almost became too over the top and simply was too unbelievable to connect with. I felt that this book quickly deescalated from being a really good thriller to an exaggerated, overblown and almost comical novel.
Ultimately, I found myself torn on what to rate this book. I came so close to giving it 3 out of 5 stars, but in the end I opted to give it 4 simply because it's just so addictive. It's a speedy book to read; despite its over 300 pages in length, I guarantee you'll blow through it in a few days. I would highly recommend this book if you typically enjoy thrillers, and even if you don't I think it's at least worth a read.
Author: Paula Hawkins
Genre: Mystery/thriller

Pages: 323

Year Published: 2015

My Rating: ★★★★☆